Why The Legend of Zelda’s Spin-Off Drought Needs to End on the Switch 2

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home March 21, 2025 6 Views 6 Min Read
Why The Legend of Zelda's Spin-Off Drought Needs to End on the Switch 2



Views: 0

As the Nintendo Switch 2 looms on the horizon, one of the most important questions surrounding it relates to Nintendo’s most cherished IP, such as The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario. It’s been anticipated that Nintendo will come out swinging with hard-hitting exclusives within these franchises, much like how the Nintendo Switch 1’s debut was bolstered by Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey.

This is an exciting prospect for Nintendo fans, especially those interested in the next chapter of The Legend of Zelda in the wake of Tears of the Kingdom. Nintendo has been fairly clear about its intentions to move away from the BOTW formula with this next entry, pivoting the series in a new and unexpected direction. Naturally, this new direction will garner a lot of attention, but it doesn’t mean that Zelda has to remain narrow-sighted on its mainline releases: the series has had a history of well-received and interesting spin-offs, like Hyrule Warriors and Cadence of Hyrule. With the Nintendo Switch 2 heralding a new, post-BOTW era, it would be a great opportunity to let the fabled franchise spread its wings once more.

The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past Dwarf

Related


The Legend of Zelda Series Has a Strange Relationship with One Classic Fantasy Race

The Legend of Zelda is chock-full of unique and memorable fantasy races, but it has treated one with surprising inconsistency.

The Nintendo Switch 2 Should Be Home to More Legend of Zelda Spin-Offs

Zelda Has Loads of Unrealized Spin-Off Potential

It’s interesting that Super Mario has received an abundance of spin-off titles, while Zelda has been the base for relatively few. While it’s perhaps a bit unrealistic to expect a “Zelda Cart” or “Zelda Strikers” in the future, there’s plenty of potential for more experimental games set in the Zelda universe. For instance, something like Super Mario RPG, but with Zelda characters, locations, and lore elements, could be a more than worthwhile endeavor.

The benefits of such a multipronged release approach are myriad, but the most obvious one is rather simple: a greater abundance of unique Zelda experiences. The Hyrule Warriors series, for instance, offers a high-octane, action-oriented adventure that is still decidedly Zelda, and Cadence of Hyrule sits comfortably in the middle of the Zelda-rhythm Venn diagram, making it appealing to a wide audience. Even relatively quaint spin-off games, like Link’s Crossbow Training, make good use of the hardware of their time while offering refreshing gameplay.

Nothing will ever compete with the mainline Zelda releases, of course, but that’s not the point; games like Tears of the Kingdom will always be the definitive Zelda experiences, steering the franchise’s legacy and upholding its trends even through extreme bouts of experimentation. However, spin-offs allow developers to get more creative with the Zelda world, not hogtied to the familiar formula of dungeons, item-based puzzles, and the like.

What Zelda Spin-Offs Could Look Like On the Nintendo Switch 2

As alluded to above, some of the greatest potential for Zelda spin-offs is tied to the hardware of the device on which they are released. With the Nintendo Switch 2 ostensibly featuring mouse-like functionality on the new Joy-Cons, perhaps this feature could be leveraged to similar effect as the Wiimote in Link’s Crossbow Training. That is to say, there could be a Zelda RTS or grand-strategy game ala Civilization, utilizing the new features of the Joy-Cons to their fullest extent within the Zelda franchise.

That’s just speculation, though. Ultimately, the specific route that Nintendo chooses to take with the Zelda franchise and its spin-offs is less important than the high-level release philosophy the company adopts. Leaving spin-offs behind entirely, as it seems to have done in recent years, would not only be leaving money on the table, but also robbing the games industry of potentially incredible Zelda titles beyond the scope of the flagship entries, which would be a shame.

Source link